Welcome to Christmas in July! I have wanted to do a Christmas in July series FOREVER but I kept thinking can we do a Christmas in July series during Skirting the Issue?
And last month, as I was thinking about this I thought…WHY NOT?!?
(After all both are about giving.)
So here we are and I couldn’t be happier!
Today we are starting with something I did last year for Christmas and am planning to do again this year…and that is….
Using my fabric scraps to create all the ribbons and bows for my Christmas tags…and also to decorate name cards with.
Here’s what I did:
I gathered up a pile of scraps in the colors that I wanted…mostly black, white, red, and green:
And I cut them into strips 3.5″ wide.
(Although this year…I think I am going to use left over scraps from binding…which means they will be cut at 2.5″ wide.)
After I had piles of scraps that were 3.5″ wide I started sewing them together. I didn’t worry about making sure they were all the same length because I was going for a scrappy look. So some were 5″ long, some were 2.5″ long, etc. etc.
As long as they are the same width they will sew together nicely and look super cute!
I just sewed all the scraps up, chain piece style, into one giant strip of fabric. Then when it came time to wrap gifts I could cut off just what I needed.
Easy Peasy.
As I wrapped each gift I just made sure that the “wrong side” (the side with the seams) was facing down towards the gift so that the “right side” showed:
Of course sewing your scraps together like this leaves raw edges on each side of your newly made “ribbon” and quilting cotton does tend to fray.
However, I like the little fraying threads and feel like it adds to the charm of the scrappy wrapping.
When I was finished making scrappy ribbon and wrapping gifts I had a pile of leftover fabric and brown paper (my favorite gift wrap…and you can buy it at the Dollar Store!).
So I cut up some plain white card stock and got to work.
I cut the cardstock into squares. Next I stitched a square of the brown paper onto the cardstock and then stitched a heart cut from the leftover fabric scraps on top of that.
Finally I punched a hole in the corner and attached a thin strip of fabric (about .25″ wide by 12″ long) to use to tie the name card onto each gift.
It was cute and cheap and looked darling under the tree!
Next week watch for the tutorial that will walk you through how to make the gift eating snake from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.
My son talked me into making it…and I seriously think it is the biggest thing I have ever made!
